People in wheelchairs (whether they are in wheelchairs permanently or temporarily) face considerable difficulties when they travel. Often, they need to be moved from their own wheelchair to a passenger seat in an aircraft, train or other vehicle. Throughout this specification, the passenger seats in such forms of transportation will collectively be referred to as a ‘fixed seat’. However, it is to be appreciated that the term ‘fixed seat’ is not to be limited only to passenger seats in aircraft or trains, but encompasses any seat that a person in a wheelchair may need to be transferred to (or from).
Currently, and referring particularly to what occurs in commercial airlines (to which much of the following description will be directed), a person in a wheelchair is often moved from their own wheelchair to an airlines' aisle chair', which is a specially designed wheelchair for use in narrow seating aisles of the type found in most commercial passenger aircraft. After being moved to an aisle chair (usually in the departure lounge, the concourse or the aerobridge of an airport), the person is wheeled down the seating aisle of the aircraft to the appropriate row, where flight attendants (or their personal attendants) assist them into their fixed seat.
This approach has several drawbacks. For instance, the process may require physical contact with the person's thighs, knees and underarms, which can be an unpleasant and awkward experience for both the person and the flight attendants.
In an effort to minimise the amount of such physical contact, use has been made of a personal sling placed under the person in the aisle chair. The presence of the sling then allows the attendants to lift the person via the sling into their assigned fixed seat. However, this does not remove the problem that the attendants are required to lift quite substantial loads without mechanical assistance, which of course presents an injury risk to the attendants.
In other circumstances, such as in a hospital, people are often moved about by means of quite large apparatus often referred to as ‘invalid hoists’, specifically to avoid the problems caused by nursing staff having to lift large loads without mechanical assistance. These invalid hoists are not though readily adaptable for use in the aircraft situation described above as they are invariably aimed at moving patients in prostrate or semi-reclined positions, and do not need to deal with the transfer of a person (seated upright) to the usually somewhat cramped space of an aircraft fixed seat. In this respect, the reasonably narrow gap between an aircraft seat and the seats immediately in front and behind presents special difficulties.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,192 (issued to Robert R McGeoch in April 1972) describes a patient lift whereby a patient may be readily lifted from one horizontal support surface, such as a hospital bed, transported to a remote location and then placed upon a second horizontal support surface such as an operating table. The patient lift described in the McGeoch patent utilises a permanently attached, large, elongate, half-cylindrical cradle for receiving a prostrate patient, and is not intended for use in transferring people from wheelchairs, there being no mechanism for receiving a wheelchair therein. Indeed, the size and space considerations that are important in the aircraft use described above, render the patient lift of this US patent as being particularly un-useful.
Another example of a patient lift is the hoist and transporting apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,479 (issued to William J Reyer in January 1977). The Reyer patent describes an apparatus that is intended to be essentially permanently located, in that one apparatus will be arranged about a person's bed to assist them getting into and out of bed, another will be arranged about a person's bathtub to assist them getting into and out of the bath, and so on for whatever uses might be required. The apparatus is thus able to lift a person and then mechanically transfer them (by rotating an arm away from the apparatus) out of the apparatus. Again, the apparatus is extremely cumbersome and is not easily adapted for use in the confined spaces of a commercial aircraft.
More recently, an attempt has been made to develop an apparatus that adopts similar principles to the above patient lifts, but would be useful in the aircraft transfer situation described above. International patent application PCT/DK2004/000689 (published in May 2005 in the name of U-B-Let A/S) describes an apparatus for use in transferring a person from a wheelchair to an aircraft seat. The apparatus is sized and configured to fit over a wheelchair, to raise the person out of their wheelchair, to move along the seating aisle of an aircraft, and to span a person's assigned fixed seat so that the person can be placed into that seat.
However, the U-B-Let A/S apparatus itself has some drawbacks that render its use still somewhat difficult. For example, the lifting mechanism of the apparatus lifts a person up out of a chair or seat, but in doing so also moves them forward. This is due to the movement of the lifting arms as those lifting arms pivot upwardly about a horizontal axis. Likewise, when lowering the person, the pivoting of the lifting arms about the horizontal axis causes the motion of the person to be both downwards and backwards.
While this pivoting movement may be acceptable (although not necessarily desirable) when moving a person into or out of their wheelchair, it can present difficulties when lowering them into the fixed seat, as the motion moves them back into the seat. Also, and due to the cramped space provided between aircraft seats, any movement forward of the person when lifting them out of the fixed seat is likely to move them into contact with the back of the seat in front, which may require the re-location of the apparatus itself (backwards) to continue the lifting.
Also, the U-B-Let A/S apparatus is not adapted for operation within the cramped spaces of aircraft aisles, such as the usually narrow space in the entrance aisle of an aircraft. As can be seen, the use of the U-B-Let A/S apparatus relies upon the person being stationary in their wheelchair and the apparatus being moved over the wheelchair from the side, so that the person is facing forward upon entry to the apparatus. Because of this, the lifting of a person out of their wheelchair using the U-B-Let A/S apparatus must occur outside the aircraft and thus either in the departure lounge, the concourse, the aerobridge, or some other part of an airport, often in view of other people.
At the very least, after being loaded into the U-B-Let A/S apparatus, the person will usually suffer the ignominy of being wheeled past other passengers into the plane, within a rather cumbersome looking apparatus, attracting attention to themselves, which is often embarrassing for the person.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide an apparatus for transferring a person from a wheelchair to a fixed seat, which apparatus permits the person to remain in their own wheelchair, or at least in an aisle chair, for as long as possible before being located in that fixed seat. In a situation where the fixed seat is an aircraft seat, the aim is thus to provide an apparatus where the transfer from wheelchair to the apparatus can occur within the aircraft.
The discussion of the background to the invention herein is included to explain the context of the present invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known, or part of the common general knowledge in Australia (or elsewhere) as at the priority date of any of the claims in this application.
Also, it is to be understood that while much of the following description will relate to operation of the apparatus in transferring a person from their wheelchair to an assigned fixed seat in an aircraft, the invention is not to be limited to only this use.